Director Angela Miloro-Hansen last month brought this Holocaust-themed work to the stage with a cast of young thespians. Together, they told the true story of the journey a teen and a young woman took as they were imprisoned in the Terezin concentration camp during World War II. Fifteen-thousand children passed through the camp, but only one hundred survived.

This production was performed four weeks ago at the theater, and then with a performance in the Brickner Auditorium at Fairmount Temple later.

The play performed alongside a traveling exhibit entitled "From the Children, About the Children, For the Children -- Art of the Holocaust" that was on display. The exhibit was on loan from The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education through a grant from the Jewish Federation of Cleveland.

Director Angela Miloro-Hansen took the art connection one step further, inspired by the Houston Holocaust Museum's "The Butterfly Project." That effort collected 1.5 million butterflies to represent all the children who perished in the Holocaust.

Miloro-Hansen decided to initiate a collection of 15,000 butterflies to represent the children that passed through the Terezin concentration camp, the focus of the play. Miloro-Hansen says she would have been impressed to reach 5,000, but thanks to social media they collected more than 17,000. Butterflies arrived from Chardon Middle School, St. Mary's, local Girl Scout troops, Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin, Burton Public Library, and even beyond Ohio from as far away as Washington state.

All very impressive, but that should have been it. As it turns out, however, "Butterfly" will be taking flight again.

"The cast and crew of 'I Never Saw Another Butterfly' will be traveling to Hudson, Ohio, Saturday to compete against other theaters in hopes to advance to the state-level competition over Labor Day Weekend in Dayton."

Martin tells me that because four cast members are age 18 or 19, the very young cast is not allowed to compete in the youth division, and therefore will be going against adult casts.

Anyone who reads this column with any regularity should know that young thespians are perfectly capable of holding their own. It should be interesting to see how they are received.

A total of seven community theaters, including Geauga Lyric Theatre Guild, will have 45 minutes to set-up, perform, and strike their set. The award ceremony will be held at 6:45 p.m.

If the reaction to their performance is similar to their public performances in Geauga and Cuyahoga counties, then these students may be bringing back some hardware to Chardon.

"The performance at Fairmount Temple was received exceptionally well," Martin says. "We had several Holocaust survivors attend and two told us that they could not believe that the cast was not Jewish, because they acted with such compassion and understanding of the feelings and related subject matter. It was a wonderful project all around!"

So congratulations to Miloro-Hansen and the entire cast and crew of "I Never Saw Another Butterfly." Represent the area -- and all young thespians -- well, and perhaps folks will say "I Never Saw Another Show So Good."

Rabbit Run Theatre

June means more than swooning Wahoos. It also means that summer stock season has arrived, and you know what that means. Time to head to the barn!

Historic Rabbit Run Theatre in Madison has already hosted an adult production of "Steel Magnolias," but now the hairdressing ladies need to make way for the company of men, and a few women, in the young adult production of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." This production opens Friday.

Our area young thespians surely know that this popular production most recently ran on Broadway featuring Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame in a 2011 revival. Winner of seven Tony Awards and the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, this staging has no young wizards to speak of. But Rabbit Run certainly expects some magic from this cast featuring some of Northeast Ohio's most talented actors, 21 and younger.

"How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" is based on the book of the same title by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser. The show is directed by Brint Learned, and musical direction by Roberta Whitely and choreography by Jennifer Leinweber Ritz.

"This is the 50th anniversary of the original Broadway production," said Learned. "It seemed a perfect time for Rabbit Run to offer a production, and the show seems particularly well-suited to our young cast. The choreography is tremendously challenging and their youth and endurance are a definite plus in meeting the demands of the production. They have done their homework as well and watched movies from the early 1960s to get a sense of the period, clothing styles and even slang."

Playing the lead, J. Pierrepont Finch, is Mentor High student Jason Goldston, who has performed in Rabbit Run's productions of "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" and "Urinetown, the Musical." Lake Catholic senior Paige Heidrich is playing Rosemary, Finch's love interest. Paige is a familiar face at Rabbit Run and has appeared in the theater's productions of "Chicago," "Urinetown, the Musical," "Oliver!" and "A Christmas Carol."

Mr. Biggley is portrayed by Matt Super, a junior drama major at Kenyon College, with Lincoln Sandham as Bud Frump, Biggley's nephew. Matt has performed in numerous productions at Rabbit Run including "Urinetown, the Musical," "Chicago," "The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" and "Oliver!" Sandham not only performs regularly at Rabbit Run but has appeared in productions at The Beck Center, The Fine Arts Association as well as other theaters in Northeast Ohio.

The show runs from Friday through June 30. Tickets for all performances are available by calling the box office at 440-428-7092 from 3 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays or online at www.rabbitrunonline.org.

Tickets are $21 for adults and $19 for seniors and students. For group packages and rates call 440-428-5913. All shows begin at 8 p.m. Rabbit Run receives partial funding from the Ohio Arts Council.

Rabbit Run Theater is at 5648 W. Chapel Road in Madison, and is one of the few remaining barn theaters in Ohio. If you have never been to a production there before, you really owe it to yourself to do so at least once this summer. The cool lake breezes -- and the talent -- will keep you coming back.

Young Thespians is also available online at www.News-Herald.com for you to search and find articles and leave comments. You can also visit the Young Thespians Facebook group page and talk about upcoming productions and current efforts with other interested fans of the theater in Northeast Ohio.

Please join the group, get in on some of the discussions, and create some of your own! So if you have a story idea that would be appropriate for this column, join the Young Thespians Facebook group page to contribute.